BEIJING: As he surveyed the Rice seedlings growing steadily in his paddies, Zhang Jinghui began looking forward to another bumper harvest.
The 60-year-old has worked on his plot on the Qixing Farm on the Sanjiang Plain, a major rice-growing area in Heilongjiang province, for 27 years since he moved here from Suihua city in search of a better life in 1995.
A State-owned farm part of the Jiansanjiang Company, itself a subsidiary of the Beidahuang Agricultural Reclamation Group, Qixing consists of 71,333 hectares of rice.
“Before I moved here, the six members of my family had 2 hectares of farmland in Suihua, which provided a meager subsistence,” he said. “So when a relative told me that planting in the reclamation area might bring a higher income, I decided to give it a try.” Zhang rented 20 hectares the first year and made a profit of 30,000 yuan, which was a large amount at the time.
He then rented 24 additional hectares the next year and became known on the farm for his industrious, innovative approach.
In all, he has harvested about 10,000 metric tons of rice from his plots. As he has gotten older, Zhang has reduced the area he works. “Last year, I made a 160,000 yuan ($23,742) profit from my 23 hectares,” he said. “With the help of modern agricultural technology and machinery like automated rice planters, I believe I will have high yields of high-quality rice this autumn.”
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
